Hugs improve emotional and physical health, research shows.
A research study led by Sheldon Cohen, PhD, the Robert E. Doherty University Professor of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, “tested whether hugs act as a form of social support and if they protect stressed people from getting sick.” Cohen and his team chose to study hugging as an example of social support because hugs are typically a marker for having a more intimate and close relationship with another person.
Here’s the good news. According to Cohen and his research team, social support and more frequent hugs protect people from “the increased susceptibility to infection associated with being stressed and resulted in less severe illness symptoms.”
Be Healthy! Be Happy! Power your path to happiness. Hug and hug often!
Reference:
Association for Psychological Science, 2014. Hugs Help Protect Against Colds by Boosting Social Support. Online [Accessed January 20, 2017]. Available at:
The National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute funded this research.